Wimple - With a plume in his helm
by Borys68
Summary: A story set in my post-Lotr AU Wimple verse. The son of Hurin of the Keys has left his new home in Rohan to ease the burden on the womenfolk. He is now a sell sword in the service of the King of Arnor Aragorn. A short one-shot. Broader context and background to the why and how is given in the "By Wimple Saved" story. Part II in series


Fenion son of Hurin – now going under the name Forlan son of Aredhel - looked at his newly adorned helmet with pride. It was no longer plain but with a red plume of dyed horsetail– denoting him as an Alderman, a senior rider responsible for ten of his mates and answering to a Leutnant or the Captain himself. His gaze slid over the camp overlooking the Upper Hoarwell and his mind slipped into a look at the last ten years of his life.

He had been twelve when together with his sister Agarwen and their pregnant mother Aredhel he was taken from Minas Tirith – awaiting a siege any day – to the relative safety of the high dales of northern Lamedon. That had been the last time he saw his father Hurin the Tall, Warden of the Keys. A week later a letter urged them to flee Gondor as his sire was about to do something which would anger the Steward greatly.

So the family fled by sheep tracks and animal trails over the mountains to Rohan. There they learnt of what their father had done. And of his death at the hands of the Rohirrim - he had betrayed their trust gravely and brought their retribution upon himself .

Initially the family had hated the Rohirrim and feared for their lives yet were treated kindler than they would have ever expected. Which was a Grace of the Illuvatar as the wrathful Steward wanted them in Gondor for some sort of punishment. Astonishingly their mother was entrusted with running the Kings Hall, Meduseld, until Eomer King married and brought his bride home. Hence they all dwelt in Edoras, with the newest addition – the posthumously born Fognir.

Once settled a concession Fenion and his sister Agarwen had to make while living in Rohan was dropping Hurin from "son of" and "daughter of" - as here their father was known solely as a kidnapper. And taking upon a Rohirric name, a step their mother refused to take, for all her hatred towards the Steward.

Sadly, once a queen had been installed Aredhel, unused to having any woman outrank her, quarrelled with her and the good days were over. The family moved to Aldburg where the Marshal of the Eastfold Elfhelm gave them food and shelter. Fenion suspected the Horselord of some measure of remorse over having sentenced Hurin to death.

His mother eked out some coin from teaching courtly graces – a job she hated, with "milk maid" being the mildest term she used to describe her charges to her children – to local lords' daughters. Another source of income was Aredhel teaching letters and Westron to the female offspring of the most open minded local aristocrats, or what passed for such in the Eastfold.

Then five years ago Agarwen became enamoured with a minor Rohirric noble with empty lands and a burned down manor. At the same time Aragorn King had sent men to recruit Riders to fight for him in the restoration of the Kingdom of Arnor. The enlistment prize was high as service was to be hard and far away. He gave his generous "king's shilling" to his sister to help her raise a dowry and left for Arnor.

At farewell Fenion told the sobbing women – his mother and sister – not to expect to seen him again. The lands of the North were harsh and unfriendly, filled with foes fell and many. He instructed them to sell or trade all possessions he was leaving behind to make some extra coin.

To his surprise he had survived five years of campaigning and even won some acknowledgement – as testified by his plume. Standing out among the Rohirrim by hair colouring like a raven among seagulls he was given a not very complimentary nickname of Krebain. Nonetheless he was generally liked and accepted as one of them.

Looking at the half built settlement abutting the camp Fenion considered it ironic that he and his Rohirric colleagues' main duty lay in the protection of newly founded villages which Aragorn King filled in large part with Dunlendings fleeing the poverty of their land. The very same land of poor soils and rickety trees which Gondorians and Rohirrim had pushed then into half a thousand years previously. Gondorian gold and Rohirric swords working for the benefit of Dunlanders – this was something new.

AN:

I have Fenion using Sindarin/Westron terminology, such as Rohan and not the Mark. He still thinks in those languages. Yet he has picked up the Rohirric word order and thinks of Aragorn King.


End file.
